十六羅漢図合作 (Jūroku rakan zu gassaku)|Collaborative Painting of Sixteen Arhats

Suzuki Shōnen 鈴木松年|Tomioka Tessai 富岡鉄斎|Murase Gyokuden 村瀬玉田|Amano Hōko 天野方壺|Kōno Bairei 幸野楳嶺|Ikeda Unshō 池田雲樵|Asai Hakuzan 浅井柳塘|Yamanaka Shūhan 山中秋帆|Imao Keinen 今尾景年|Murata Kōkoku 村田香谷|Morikawa Sōbun 森川曾文|Mori Kansai 森寛斎|Shiokawa Ichidō 塩川一堂|Suzuki Hyakunen 鈴木百年|Tanomura Chokunyū 田能村直入|Shige Shuntō 重春塘

late 1870s–early 1880s · Hanging scroll; ink and color on satin · Asian Art

For this collaboration, sixteen artists depicted one each of the Sixteen Arhats (Japanese: Jūroku Rakan), a group of Buddhist saints who reject all worldly passions and exist in various realms of the Buddhist world in order to promulgate the so-called Just Law—the true teachings of the Buddha, which are inherently prone to degeneration over time. The sixteen artists were all key players in painting circles in the city of Kyoto in the 1880s. They include major figues like Mori Kansai, who, after the death of the leading painter Shiokawa Bunrin (1808–1877), stood at the center of Kyoto painting circles as the head of the Kyoto painting group Jounsha, many of whose members can also be found among the collaborators. The late Bunrin’s own son, Ichidō, painted the partially hidden figure in profile at middle left. Another particularly important collaborator on this work, and along with Mori Kansai the oldest of the group, is Tanomura Chokunyū. Chokunyū was a leading figure of the literati painting movement, which is also well represented in this work. A number of the painters are associated with the naturalistic painting style of the Shijō School. Nearly all the painters whose names and pictures appear on this work were at one time or another after its founding in 1880 affiliated with the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting (Kyōto-fu Ga-gakkō), Japan’s first ever art educational institution. In addition to one of its founders, Kōno Bairei, well over half of the artist’s represented in this work are known to have taught at the school in the 1880s.

Artist

Suzuki Shōnen 鈴木松年|Tomioka Tessai 富岡鉄斎|Murase Gyokuden 村瀬玉田|Amano Hōko 天野方壺|Kōno Bairei 幸野楳嶺|Ikeda Unshō 池田雲樵|Asai Hakuzan 浅井柳塘|Yamanaka Shūhan 山中秋帆|Imao Keinen 今尾景年|Murata Kōkoku 村田香谷|Morikawa Sōbun 森川曾文|Mori Kansai 森寛斎|Shiokawa Ichidō 塩川一堂|Suzuki Hyakunen 鈴木百年|Tanomura Chokunyū 田能村直入|Shige Shuntō 重春塘

Date

late 1870s–early 1880s

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on satin

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of George Crawford, 2020